Press Release Summary: Two orthopedic surgeons volunteering for the Surgical Implant Generation Network, a nonprofit orthopedic health organization, will be traveling to Kabul, Afghanistan for two weeks to train Afghani doctors.
Press Release Body: KABUL, Af. Two orthopedic surgeons volunteering for a nonprofit orthopedic health organization will be traveling to Kabul, Afghanistan for two weeks to train Afghani doctors. Doctors Lewis Zirkle and David Templeman are volunteers with SIGN, the Surgical Implant Generation Network, a nonprofit that supplies surgical implants and training to hospitals in developing countries. They will be in Kabul from January 20th to February 3rd to teach Afghani doctors how to use surgical implants to stabilize broken bones – a technique that, according to Zirkle, will help save the limbs of those injured in Taliban attacks and in everyday accidents. The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan has led to increased violence in Kabul. Most recently, on January 14th, a Taliban attack on a Kabul hotel killed seven people and wounded six more. Kabul hospitals have also attracted casualties from the surrounding region, and often treat victims of everything from land mines to traffic accidents. Because of the poor state of Afghani medical infrastructure, which has been ravaged by twenty years of conflict and poverty, much of the medical care in Kabul is provided by foreign agencies. SIGN is working to build Afghanis’ capacity to treat themselves by providing free medical training, instruments, and surgical implants. Jeanne Dillner, CEO of SIGN, will be traveling with Zirkle, SIGN’s president, to begin two new programs in Afghanistan. For each SIGN program, SIGN sends volunteer surgeons to train local doctors and supplies those doctors with instruments and implants designed and manufactured by the nonprofit. The doctors then serve their local population by providing orthopedic surgery at no cost. The end result is a better level of orthopedic care for patients who could not afford treatment of their injured limbs. SIGN currently has 130 of these programs worldwide, many of which are in areas of conflict like Afghanistan. In Pakistan, where SIGN has started four new programs since responding to the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake, SIGN programs continue to treat patients despite that nation’s civil unrest.
Web Site: http://www.sign-post.org
Contact Details: Matt Pitman Communications matt@sign-post.org 509.371.1107
2012
